Liturgy Pacific is the on-line presence of Richard Geoffrey Leggett, Rector of Saint Faith's Anglican Church in Vancouver and Professor Emeritus of Liturgical Studies at Vancouver School of Theology. Here you will find sermons, comments on current Anglican and Lutheran affairs and reflections on the need for progressive orthodox Christians to re-claim our place on the theological stage.

1
The hand of the Lord
came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down
in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there
were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these
bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you
know.” 4 Then he said to me,
“Prophesy to these bones, and say to them:O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these
bones:I will cause breath to enter you,
and you shall live. 6 I will
lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with
skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am
the Lord.”

7
So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there
was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were sinews
on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was
no breath in them. 9 Then he
said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God:Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10 I prophesied as he commanded me,
and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast
multitude.

11
Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope
is lost; we are cut off completely.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say
to them, Thus says the Lord God:I am going to open
your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring
you back to the land of Israel. 13
And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you
up from your graves, O my people. 14
I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on
your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the
church.

Thanks
be to God.

The Psalm of the Day

Psalm 104.26-34, 35b with Refrain from Songs
for the Holy One

Refrain (twice):O my
soul, bless the Holy One!Hallelujah!

24 O
Lord, how manifold are your works! *

In wisdom you have made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25 Yonder
is the great and wide sea

with its living things too many to number, *

creatures both small and great.

26 There
move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, *

which you have made for the sport of it.

27 All of
them look to you *

to give them their food in due season.

Refrain:O my soul, bless the Holy One!Hallelujah!

28 You
give it to them; they gather it; *

you open your hand,

and they are filled with good
things.

29 You
hide your face, and they are terrified; *

you take away their breath,

and they die and return to their
dust.

30 You
send forth your Spirit, and they are created; *

and so you renew the face of the
earth.

Refrain: O my soul, bless the Holy One! Hallelujah!

31 May
your glory, O Lord, endure for ever; *

may you rejoice in all these works;

32 you
look at the earth and it trembles; *

you touch the mountains and they
smoke.

33 I will
sing to the Lord as long as I live; *

I will praise my God while I have my
being.

34 May
these words of mine please you; *

I will rejoice in the Lord.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.Hallelujah!

Refrain: O my soul, bless the Holy One! Hallelujah!

The Second Reading

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (2.1-21).

1
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there
came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house
where they were sitting. 3
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each
of them. 4 All of them were
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the
Spirit gave them ability.

5
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd
gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native
language of each. 7 Amazed
and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each
of us, in our own native language? 9
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of
Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11
Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s
deeds of power.” 12 All were
amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said,
“They are filled with new wine.”

14
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men
of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to
what I say. 15 Indeed, these
are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.16 No, this is what was spoken
through the prophet Joel:17
‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon
all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.18 Even upon my slaves, both men
and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.19 And I will show portents in the
heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and
fire, and smoky mist.20 The
sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the
Lord’s great and glorious day.21
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the
church.

Thanks
be to God.

Hymn before the Gospel

‘Soaring Spirit, Set Us Free’ Common Praise
#250

The Gospel

The Lord be with you.

And
also with you.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
according to John (15.26-27; 16.4b-15).

Glory
to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

15.26
[Jesus said to his disciples,] “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to
you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will
testify on my behalf. 27 You
also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.”

16.4b
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who
sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these
things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the
truth:it is to your advantage that I go
away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go,
I will send him to you. 8 And
when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and
judgement:9 about sin,
because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I
am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11 about judgement,
because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

12
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes,
he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but
will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to
come. 14 He will glorify me,
because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine.
For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

No comments:

About Me

Richard is a presbyter of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster with a number of responsibilities. He is Rector of Saint Faith's Anglican Church in Vancouver. Richard is also the Principal Consultant for Liturgy Pacific, a worship consultancy providing educational seminars and resources for congregational life and ministry. After 23 years as a member of the faculty of Vancouver School of Theology, Dr Leggett became Professor Emeritus of Liturgical Studies in 2010. Since 1989 Dr Leggett has served on various national committees of the Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran churches in Canada and is a regular participant in the work of the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation. From 2010 to 2016 he was a Member of the Liturgy Task Force of the Anglican Church of Canada.